American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $40.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust's stock, up from their previous price objective of $39.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on AMH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded American Homes 4 Rent from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $40.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of American Homes 4 Rent in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Scotiabank downgraded American Homes 4 Rent from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded American Homes 4 Rent from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on American Homes 4 Rent from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.67.

American Homes 4 Rent Price Performance

AMH stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $34.69. 911,893 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,278,638. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.56. American Homes 4 Rent has a one year low of $33.75 and a one year high of $41.41. The company has a market cap of $12.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE:AMH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.23). American Homes 4 Rent had a net margin of 21.51% and a return on equity of 4.76%. The firm had revenue of $445.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $443.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that American Homes 4 Rent will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

American Homes 4 Rent Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. American Homes 4 Rent's dividend payout ratio is 108.33%.

Insider Activity

In other American Homes 4 Rent news, Director Douglas N. Benham bought 3,286 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.49 per share, with a total value of $80,474.14. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 41,946 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,027,257.54. This represents a 8.50 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Bryan Smith sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.80, for a total value of $1,512,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 125,580 shares in the company, valued at $4,746,924. This trade represents a 24.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of American Homes 4 Rent

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AMH. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,608 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $256,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 307,377 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $11,437,000 after acquiring an additional 19,143 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of American Homes 4 Rent in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $17,367,000. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of American Homes 4 Rent by 62.2% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 62,994 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,341,000 after acquiring an additional 24,158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.87% of the company's stock.

About American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent operates as a real estate investment trust. It engages in the acquisition, renovation, leasing, and operating of single-family homes as rental properties. The company was founded by Bradley Wayne Hughes, Sr. on October 19, 2012 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV.